


Too Loud

by thefictionaleconomist



Category: Classic Alice (Web Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 08:46:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2575325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefictionaleconomist/pseuds/thefictionaleconomist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief look at what happened at the Valeton Halloween party and why Alice was so quick to leave</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Loud

Alice was beginning to remember why she usually said no when Cara tried to drag her out on a Saturday night. Whoever the school had gotten to DJ the party was apparently a fan of house music and cranking up the bass to eleven. Parties were always crowded, but seeing as it was Halloween, all of Valeton had come out and the dance floor was a crush of flailing bodies and costumes pressed up against you as you shouldered your way through the crowd. When Alice finally broke through, she leaned back against the cool wall and closed her eyes, counting to ten, trying to make the throbbing in her head and the butterflies in her stomach that were competing for her attention stop.

Fifteen more minutes. They were announcing at midnight. She just had to make it through fifteen more minutes and then she could go home. No matter how it all ended, she could go home in fifteen minutes.

“Alice! Ally- ally-oxen-free- Alice. I finally found you. You disappeared. No disappearing.”

She felt the bump of a cardboard box against her side and looked over to see Cara, hair plastered to her forehead with sweat and an enormous smile on her face. The biggest smile Alice had seen on Cara’s face in days. And even if that smile was more than a small part because of the alcohol, Alice couldn’t help but smile back. “Having fun?”

“I’d be having more fun if you would come and dance with us. Don’t make me pull the puppy dog eyes,” said Cara, grabbing Alice’s arm and tugging her towards the mass of people Alice had just escaped.

“Shouldn’t Lily be the one with the puppy dog eyes?”

“You’re funny. Now come on.” They pushed through the crowds with Cara pointedly elbowing the couples too involved in each other to let them through the crowd.

With one last shove through a particularly amorous clump, Cara stopped short and Alice’s remaining momentum sent her clattering forward into someone. Who in turn stumbled and it wasn’t until Alice grabbed the boy’s sleeve to keep them both standing that she realized that the black rimmed eyes looking back at hers were Andrew’s. At which point she dropped his sleeve immediately and stepped back, only to be pushed back forwards by a couple aggressively trying to climb into each other’s skins behind her.

“Where’s Heather?” she asked, swiveling her head around, trying to catch a glimpse of a Keira Knightley style pirate get up in the costumes surrounding them.

Andrew said something, but it got swallowed up in the music. Alice shook her head, cupping her hand around her ears, and yelled, “WHAT? THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD.”

Andrew leaned in, mouth next to her ear, “What? The music is too loud.”

Alice laughed, and yelled back, leaning her weight on his shoulder as she tilted up on her tiptoes to shout into Andrew’s ear, “You just said what I just said. ”

“Great minds.” He smiled down at her, all dimples and warmth and the mischief of a pirate’s eyes, and she was suddenly all too aware of how close they were. Not that they hadn’t been this close before. Neither of them were particularly good at recognizing other people’s personal space which resulted in a friendship where they were quite literally almost on top of each other at all times. But there’s something different about collapsing against your best friend in the daylight and open space of your apartment as you watch Game of Thrones together and standing mere centimeters from him in the midst of a party with the music and the alcohol and the heat making your head pound.

The thing is, Alice isn’t stupid. And despite what some English professors might think, she’s not incapable of picking up on feelings. Especially one particular someone’s feelings. But because she’s not stupid, she knows she has to step away. Like she’s had to step away every other time that Andrew has wandered too close to toeing over that line that they won’t be able to go back from. Especially given that Andrew has a date somewhere nearby who probably wouldn’t take kindly to her taking him up on the question that’s lurking behind the smile in Andrew’s eyes.

In the end, she doesn’t have to make a decision. He does for her, stepping back so quickly that Alice at first thinks she was mistaken.

And then the music goes down --  
And the lights on the stage at the front of the room go up --  
And an announcement is being made. 

The ringing in her ears won’t let her take it in even as she is crushed against Cara’s cardboard hug and sees Lily smiling and cheering behind Cara. The headache that has been threatening to bloom all night is now pressing against her eyes and all she can think is that she has to go home. So she goes with not even a glance over her shoulder for the boy elbowing his way through the crowd after her or the sad-eyed girl following in that boy’s wake.


End file.
